The present invention belongs to the field of robot programming systems. More specifically, it can be used to equip a humanoid robot already equipped with an ability to execute behaviors with advanced capabilities of dialog with a human user. A robot may be described as humanoid the moment it possesses some attributes of appearance and functionalities of a human being: a head, a trunk, two arms, possibly two hands, two legs, two feet, etc. Within the context of the present invention, the most important humanoid characteristic is, however, the capability for oral expression in dialog with a human being, said capability having to be as coordinated as possible with the gestural and/or symbolic expression of the personality and emotions of the robot. It is conceivable that applications may be developed of the ‘robot companion’ type, i.e. a robot that is able to take on, notably on behalf of one or more human beings in a state of dependence, a number of support functions in daily life, while providing said human beings with a presence that may be considered as a quasi-equivalent substitute emotionally for the presence of a human personal assistant. For this, it is essential to develop the ability of said humanoid robots to hold a dialog with human beings in a manner as close as possible to human behavior. In particular, it is necessary that the robot can interpret questions or statements from the human being, and utter responses in conversational mode, with a wealth of expression corresponding to that of a human being and modes of expression that are in synergy with the types of behaviors and emotions that are normally those of a human being.
Initial steps in this direction have been accomplished thanks to the methods for programming humanoid robots of the Nao™ brand marketed by the applicant of the present patent application and disclosed in the international patent application published under No. WO2012/000927 relating to a player robot and in the international patent application published under No. WO2012/010451 relating to a humanoid robot equipped with a natural dialog interface.
However, the robots disclosed by these documents can only perform a limited and predetermined number of dialog elements, or at least, if it is wished to multiply said dialog elements to a diversity corresponding to the normal behavior of a human being, the combinatorics would quickly become inaccessible to one. To be able to provide notably support services to the aforementioned person, it is therefore necessary to equip humanoid robots with a richer conversational ability than that of robots of the prior art.
To do this, the present invention installs in said robot a conversational agent, voice recognition tools and tools for analyzing the behavior of human beings with whom the robot converses.